A new piece from the Brown Center Chalkboard reviews innovations in teacher preparation taking place at the University of Virginia that make the most of classroom simulators. Excerpts appear below: In teacher preparation, simulated practice is designed to complement—not to replace—student-placement experiences. However, it also has the potential to powerfully Read more
Every day, educators, advocates, and families strive to ensure that our schools prepare all students to excel academically and thrive in life. To realize that ambitious goal, we must ensure that our education sector functions at all levels as a learning system. Too often, though, a culture of compliance and Read more
Recently in Fordham’s Flypaper, Robert Pondiscio reflected a new direction for education reform: a focus on instructional practice. He writes: Shifting ed reform’s focus to improving practice is an acknowledgment that underperformance is not a failure of will, but a lack of capacity. It’s a talent-development and human capital-strategy, not Read more
The National Council on Teacher Quality (NCTQ) recently completed an analysis of what each of the 50 states intends to do to provide a more equitable education to all students, as described in their Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plans. The analysis from NCTQ highlight strengths and opportunities, ultimately demonstrating Read more
Throughout this year, the Bush Institute has interviewed education leaders at length about what school accountability means to them. The result is the launch of The “A” Word: Accountability–The Dirty Word of Education Reform. Throughout this interview series, recognized leaders identify why accountability practices matter and how they have used Read more
The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) has released Transforming Educator Preparation: Lessons Learned from Leading States, a playbook offering specific steps states can take to improve educator preparation. In 2012, CCSSO released Our Responsibility, Our Promise, boldly challenging state education leaders to raise expectations and strengthen policies to Read more
An iNACOL Issue Brief by Dale Frost and Maria Worthen provides an overview of competency-based education and offers state policy recommendations and resources for policymakers who are ready to enable and support competency-based education. Competency-based education is a next generation learning model that focuses on all students achieving mastery, preparing Read more
In the Carnegie Commons blog, authors Jennifer Russell and Maggie Hannan explore how Networked Improvement Communities (NICs) can build educators’ capacity to use improvement science to learn from practice. Improvement science offers methods to guide disciplined inquiries that generate knowledge to improve practice. Improvement research—the inquiry processes that lie at Read more
When most people think of school reform in the District of Columbia, they probably remember the Time magazine cover photo of former Chancellor Michelle Rhee with a broom in her hand and a hard look on her face. In leading the school system from 2007 to 2010, she was the Read more
Matt Barnum of The 74 recently reviewed research on the importance of curricular materials for student achievement. Excerpts from his article appear below: The idea that schools can get better simply by improving the content of what they teach may seem at once novel and obvious in an education policy Read more
A new report from the Center on School Turnaround presents promising practices for how to sustain the advances made in schools that have demonstrated rapid improvement. The practices presented are derived from a comprehensive review of relevant literature, and from the experience of five school principals who not only facilitated Read more
David Brooks, an op-ed writer for the New York Times, examines the new documentary, Most Likely to Succeed and analyzes the claims it makes about the current state of the American Education system: Greg Whiteley’s documentary, Most Likely to Succeed, argues that the American school system is ultimately built on Read more
Over a the past several months Real Clear Education has been spotlighting schools and teachers participating in the Opportunity Culture initiative, a movement launched in 2011 by education policy and consulting firm Public Impact. Opportunity Culture models are aimed at improving the quality of education by extending the reach of excellent teachers Read more
Dozens of schools around the U.S. are opting to ditch the traditional school structure altogether to motivate teens in new ways–and it seems to be working. They are using the Big Picture Learning model. Big Picture’s model is now used in more than 60 schools across the U.S. In Vermont, it’s Read more
The Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS) released a sweeping proposal last month to transform the state’s education system to better “place the ‘learner’ at the center of all strategy and action.” CAPSS identifies a set of complex problems, such as international and racial achievement gaps, low levels of Read more
In an article in the most recent edition of Education Outlook, Fairfax County Schools Superintendant Jack Dale shares his vision for the “21st century teacher-leader.” He claims the current system of negotiated contracts, 10-month work, various pay schemes, etc. are moving the teaching profession “toward an hourly, blue-collar, piecemeal work Read more